News
Adding the Commerce Department to the Mix
On February 4, 2014, the Brookings Institute, a Washington think-tank, released a report recommending supervisory oversight of the adjudication of regional center applications by the Commerce Department. This study supports the December findings of Homeland Security’s Inspector General that the EB-5 program exceeds the USCIS mission and should use the...
More Talk of Visa Backlog for Chinese EB-5 Cases
Eighty-five percent of EB-5 cases involve investors from China. It is anticipated Chinese investors will use up their quota of the 10,000 EB-5 visas this fiscal year. The State Department predicts the visa list may backlog this July. In October 2014, 10,000 visas become available for fiscal year 2015. The approved...
SEC Update
The SEC meets with the USCIS weekly. The SEC has also sought documents from and has been talking to some regional centers. The SEC is concerned about finder’s fees being paid to non-Series 7 licensed broker dealers in the US. Also, the SEC wants to ensure that a project’s PPM discloses...
EB-5 Program Getting Trashed
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) continues to trash the EB-5 program. With the help of a ridiculous Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo, the media ran vague stories about “terrorism” and an “Iran connection” to the EB-5 program. This is yellow journalism at its worst. The ICE memo even says that EB-5...
Visa Backlog
Rumors are flying that the 10,000 EB-5 visas will be exhausted in 2014, resulting in a longer wait to immigrate. I spoke with Charlie Oppenheim, the Department of State official in charge of the allocation of visa numbers. Here is what he said: If it becomes necessary in 2014, he will...